Grow Your Own Magazine

Hi there everyone !

I have just joined tonight and found the forum very intresting and everyone seems to give helpfull advice to each other.

Well were do I start ! My dear father passed away very sudden last August
(07) as being an only child I inherited the farmhouse (which is non-working) which has 7 acres of field and a small stable block. We decided to buy a static caravan that is situated in the yard whilst we renovate the house as it does need completley gutting ! .. I am using my inheritence money to re-build the house and with all the money I am forking out I have the ideal opportunity to grow my own vegtable patch and would really like to buy a few hens and possible a goat ! I would also like a few geese and a friend suggest they are better than a guard dog !!!! With all the recent rises in fuel and household foods looming I am worried enough going from a 2 bedroom terrace to a 5 bedroom farmhouse and really want to be self suffient to a possible high standard !! I was looking at growing my own potatoes but my hubby says they are difficult to grow along with apple trees and really wanted some advice and which vegtables or fruit as 'a starter' I have scanned a few websites and this seems the most helpfull .... Can anyone help with where to start ? A friend mentioned buy the time you buy hens and buy the feed for them it is not worth having them for cheap eggs etc .... is this true ? ..... any help would be much appreciated as I am no good with things like this !!!!!

Kind regards, Bully-Bonce (Grt Manchester)

Bully-bonce
I appreciate that your inheritance may seem a little daunting but there are folk on here (self included) who would give their eye teeth for such a problem.
The first thing you need to do is sort out the property - that is a given.
You can worry about all sorts later - it also means you have the time to plan what you wanna do. 7 acres would be enough to start growing veg for selling or running a box scheme. You can keep chooks and alsthough initial costs for housing and fencing may seem high, you can free range them and feed them on veg scraps and this would seriously cut the cost of buying in food. Same for geese and ducks - and you canseel surplus eggs at the farm gate.
With 7 acres, you could devote an acre to orchard and still have your tatties far enough away not to be any kind of problem.
When the house is finished, have you considered B&b potential ?
Got loads more but in middle of making soup for the Framers Market this weekend. If you have any specific question, PM me - I run a 5 acre market garden and small veg box scheme so can maybe give you some pointers if you're interested ?

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Rat

British by birth
Scottish by the Grace of God

Blog updated Wednesday 17th September

how to you get to the introduction forum to post your first message sorry but l must be PC daft could you help ??

Hi Bullybonce. Whereabouts in the country are you? As SewerRat says, most of us would give our eyeteeth for your inheritance. Even if you don't work the land, you have somewhere to live.

Hi

Well, what an inheritance to have as a problem. Sorry to hear about your dad.

Definitely get the house sorted; and start small on the growing front.

On the fruit/veg front, I'd grow both what you eat alot of, and what is more seasonal and expensive - those are often the main starting points. But, take time to plan what/where/when; esp if you haven't grown anything before. Also, take stock of what you do have, what the land and soil is like, and do the research [the search button on here is invaluable], and the advice of those who sell fruit and veg for a living [aka Sewer Rat] will no doubt help you no end, as I'm sure that you have a business there in the making.

I wish you well, and hope to see you on here in the future telling us all about your ventures.

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From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.

Hello to you both!!...and welcome to the Vine!

Welcome to the Vine Bully-Bonce. I think you have to think about what it is you want. Write it down. Break it all into bits. Then start working out how you can achieve it - bit by bit.
You'll get help here if you come back with smaller questions - answers to all the little bits.
Best wishes for your venture.
Sorry for the loss of your Dad but I hope you know what a fine inheritance he left you.

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From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.

Jealous

Good luck though, it seems like a big project.

Jane

Hi BullyBonce. It's always a sad time when one loses a parent, my condolences offered. Probably not a good time to start worrying about how you are going to manage your inheritance. Just remember time is a good fixer of problems and you have plenty of time on your hands. Take time to look at what you've got. Take advice from anyone who offers it, you'll have plenty of advice to sift through, some good ,some not so good, but all valuable experience for you. Good luck.

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http://www.weltaf.co.uk/
Why keep a dog when you can bark yourself !

Hi there. I would never keep A goat, keep 2. Not only are they company for each other, but it means you can avoid the 'milk-gap'. As the others have said, don't try to do it all at once, and sort the house first (a few chickens would not be impossible meanwhile). If you get ex-battery hens, and improvise cheap accomodation, you can get cheap eggs (there are ways around the 'no scraps' rule, if the eggs are just for home use).

Hi bullybonce,
Sounds like a nice place you have got and plenty of land to play with.
As it already been said take your time and plan well as it seams you have lots to get on with in the house without the burdon of livestock to look after while you are renervating.
On the planting front i would work out where your orchard is going and get it planted this winter because it may take a couple of years before they start cropping , and the same goes for raspberries , currents , strawberries and rhubarb so everything is producing well when the house is finished.
Ever thought about pigs ?
Good luck on your adventure.

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---) CARL (----
ILFRACOMBE
NORTH DEVON

a seed planted today makes a meal tomorrow!

www.freewebs.com/carlseawolf

now in blog form ! UPDATED 01 / 04 / 08

Hello and welcome. I still miss my dad 6 years on. However, I'm sure he'd have been proud of you for taking this on. All the advice above is good. Ask specific questions if you need to know something. By the way, I don't agree about spuds being difficult. You wouldn't actually attempt to grow them IN an orchard but make a patch for veg and use crop rotation - there is lots about it on here, if you use the search button.

Good luck. Can you put your location in your user profile so it will help us to give advice specific to the area you live in.

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Earth laughs in flowers. Ralph Waldo Emerson

www.vegheaven.blogspot.com

Updated September 29th - Bean drying.

Hi Bully Bonce and welcome.

Lots of good advice already, but perhaps you could devote and acre or so to growing trees for coppicing - willow, hazel etc. These can then be used for fuel for a woodburning stove and keep you relatively self-sufficient in heating terms (or at least, less dependent that previously on oil etc). I'd also try to ge some solar panels in your roof while doing the renovations, as this is getting more and more economical as fuel costs rise (free hot water at least).

You'll probably find as well that, once you are settled in and renovations done, and really get to grips with the site, you will be able to grow a lot more than you initially think (both fruit/veg and animals) and come up with lots of ways to exploit that in terms of your own family use and selling on to others.

Definitely take the time to plan it all before getting started though - nothing worse than trying to dig up trees a year or two after planting to put them somewhere else...Decide exactly what you want (livestock and which types, fruit trees, fruit bushes, vegetable area, coppicing wood, general fallow land - whatever else you might want or not). Look at the resources available - orientation of the site (which faces the sun, where is likely to get frost/flooding), any water (streams, wells, guttering on outbuildings for catching in butts), shelter (very wind swept, sheltered by trees that might take water/nutriets etc) and distance from the house (don't want chickens very far away for daily attention, while apple trees can be a good bit away as they wouldn't need too much attention that regularly). And is there any area that you want for particular purposes, or that you want to change (like planting trees somewhere for more shelter for example). Do you have outbuildings to use for storage, housing animals, adapting as greenhouse etc?

Use the winter for digging areas for veg and manuring if needed, planting trees (fruit and other) and bushes and generally planning still. And start in earnest next spring. I'd keep to a few things in pots this summer if you want to get going - building takes time and energy, and a great spot for putting things next year might be the builder's favourite spot for turning trucks or using a cement mixer this year!!

Hi Bully Bounce

Sorry to hear about your dad.

And as many have said: What an inheritance!
If you want to get hens, have you looked at adopting ex-bats? Hilary mentioned them as well.

Here's the website to the battery hen welfare trust. You get to help hens that are perfectly good to carry on living (and laying eggs)!
They give loads of info and help.

Best of luck. keep us updated!
(btw - yes, geese ARE better at guarding than dogs)

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Over-excited and no clue.

im so sorry to hear about you dad my sympathies sent to you and your family

but wow as everyone else has said how lucky are you, people hear are very freindly and there is tons and tons of advise you can pick up from here,
wont repeat what others have said, all i can say is, yes it will be a mammoth task, there will be problems, you may well want to give it up, but you must persiver, as the rewards once you have achived your goal will be so satisfing and im sure you will do your father proud, try not to look at everything as a whole start small, the fields will look after themselves for a time and will most likely do the ground good, there will be times when you have failed crops and you will want to be pulling your hair out, do a plan make lots of lists and put what is most important at the top, and tick off as you go along, there will be delays and things unepected will crop up (pardon pun ) once its done though you can look back and say "i did this" and it will feel great, i wish you all the luck and welcome to the forum

Hi Bully-Bonce. Sorry to read your Dad has passed away, but sounds like he has left you a wonderful inheritance. Can't add much to what's already been said, but I suppose a lot will depend on how much time you have available (if you are working or have children), just don't try to do it all at once. Good Luck.

I can certainly concur about the geese though!

Oh my gosh ! Thanks to everyone for all the great support ... got pleanty of ideas and as Alice and a few others mentioned I need to write down a list of my goals with the house & land. Our main concern is the house but I will get plenty of ideas from this site and start by doing a little bit whilst it is summer with looking at soil and what type of veg's to grow etc No harm in starting them now. I have a small stable block with a big heap of horse manure and people tell me the dung is very good for plants and trees etc.
... I will put my location on the site as also mentioned.

......... AGAIN THANKS A BUNCH TO EVERYONE !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi Rat, thanks for your comments ... I was looking at veg, eggs and other growing produce for just my family really and never really thought about selling from the farm. with a full time job I dont think I will have the time or energy. Do you sell yours full time from home and farmers market ? My in-laws have a farm shop selling thier own meats and I help to sell at the farmers market a few miles away. Depending on how I get on when I start my veggy patch I may look at selling etc ... but as they say 'it's food for thought !' My dad did have a few hens years ago in a wooden hut but as we live in the middle of woodland we are prone to badgers and foxes, they used to find a way into the pens to kill the hens so free range is probably out of the question I think ! Tell me more bout your garden/land etc ?

Hi Hilary B .... You mentioned goat/s ... do you have one ?

i would so love a farm house and land, oh the growing potential. grow what you like to eat and what freezes well that you like, so you can have home grow in winter and out of season. if it were me, i would use the following, 1 acher for a fruit tree orchard for apples, pears, cherries, nectrines, apricots, peachers, damsons, plums, 1-2 achers for fruit bush orchard growing the following, raspberries summer and autumn, currents black, red, and white, gooseberries red and green, goji berries, blackberries, sun berries, logan berries, tay berries, japenese wine berries, blue berries cranberries, i would also put rhubarb in here and strawberries in a boarder all around the edges of each fruit acher. most of these freeze well for pies, crumbles or fruit salads even jam or wine making is another possibility as with selling or supplying local restaurants. 3 achers i would grow veg in and grow potatoes, carrots, parsnips, spring, shallots and normal onions, leeks, beetroot, jeruselum artichoke, asparagus, cabbages, caulis, broccalis, cellery, beans lettuce, radishes and other salad veg, peas most of these if diced up freeze for dinners and soups or pickel, the last acher i would put in some green houses for toms, cucumbers, peppers, chillies, and growing seeds ie beans and peas before planting out then the rest i would devote as a relaxation garden with some flowers orniments, but thats just me, it may give you some ideas though, i do grow most of the fruit in pots as got a concrete garden i cant dig up and tatties are not hard to grow i do it in pots, just have to keep earthing them up and they can be grow nearly all year round. just remember to succesional so a few weeks apart so everything not all ready at once and more managable to prevent bolting asvwell, fruit net is a good investment. also make your own compost for sowing your seeds will save a fortune hope this helps, all the best good luck percy charlie